The Independent: UK Banks Fund Deadly Cluster-bomb Industry
The London-based Independent daily reported that British high-street banks are investing hundreds of millions of pounds in companies that manufacture cluster bombs, despite a growing global ban outlawing their production.
Among the aforementioned banks, the Independent indicated that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Lloyds TSB, Barclays and HSBC have provided funds of cluster bombs.
Almost a year ago, Britain became a signatory of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which is a global treaty that bans the use, production, or any interference in cluster bomb existence.
However, the British Coalition Government did not attempt to rein in banks and investment funds that continue to finance companies known to manufacture the weapons, the Independent added.
The funds were exploiting a loophole in the legislation, which indicates that financial institutions can continue to back cluster-bomb manufacturers as long as they don't invest in the bombs directly. This step pushed Amnesty International to launch a national campaign urging the British and worldwide governments to legislate against any indirect investment in cluster munitions, the British daily added.
According to an investigation by Dutch arms experts, the RBS bank was in the syndicate that provided the US arms manufacturer, Alliant Techsystems with a $1 billion fund. On another hand, the Lloyds also invested in the US arms giant, Lockheed Martin, a company with a long track record of producing cluster munitions, the British daily stated.
Moreover, other British banks such as Barclays and HSBC were also proved to be involved in a major financing deal with the US Textron manufacturer; responsible for building a "sensor fused weapon", which is considered to be the world's most powerful cluster bomb, the Independent indicated.
The indirect step of investing in cluster munitions isn't illegal, but the concerns are about those banks' moral behavior at the time of bankruptcy and credit crisis, especially that some of the banks that have been investing in clusters bombs were initially bailed out of the crisis.
After the Amnesty International call for further restrictions on indirect means of cluster bombs investments, only Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and New Zealand were the only countries to ban banks from directly or indirectly financing cluster bombs, the London-based daily further noted.
Speaking on this issue, Amnesty arms expert Oliver Sprague stated, "High street banks like Royal Bank of Scotland are making a mockery of UK law by shamefully investing in companies that make weapons the UK Government and 108 other countries have clearly and quite rightly banned. Given the UK Government's clear decision to bank cluster munitions, no UK financial institution should be assisting their production".
On her part, director of the Cluster Munitions Coalition Laura Cheeseman clarified, "The UK and other countries that have already signed the ban treaty should pass strong national legislation to make sure they are not contributing to the production of weapons that they have outlawed".
Source: The Independent
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